user
Task: Explain the concept of ‘gravitational lensing’.


assistant
Gravitational lensing is a phenomenon in which the gravitational field of a massive object distorts the path that light takes when traveling through space. This causes the light to be deflected around the object, producing a magnified, or brighter, image of a more distant object. Gravitational lensing can also have the opposite effect, causing an image of a distant object to appear distorted or split into multiple images, depending on the shape and alignment of the objects involved.